Hand

Hand

Hand, Learned, 1872-1961, American jurist, b. Albany, N.Y. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1896. He was a judge of the U.S. District Court for New York's Southern District (1909-24) and of the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals (1924-51). Often called the "tenth justice of the Supreme Court," and regarded as one of the finest jurists in American history, Hand delivered more than 2,000 opinions, and was noted especially as a defender of free speech. He is the author of The Spirit of Liberty, a collection of papers and addresses (1952), and of The Bill of Rights, a series of lectures (1958).

Hand, Wayland Debs, 1907-86, folklorist, b. Auckland, New Zealand. Hand wrote Popular Beliefs and Superstitions from North Carolina (1964), which is ranked among the finest published studies of superstition. It is remarkable for its logical arrangement of material, accurate comparative information, and completeness of informant attributions. Hand also wrote two volumes of essays on folklore and literature, Humaniora (1960) and Folklore International (1967), as well as Eyes on Texas: Fifty Years of Folklore in the Southwest (1967).

hand, terminal part of the forelimb in primates. The human hand consists of the wrist, palm, four fingers, and thumb. In humans and other primates, the thumb is opposable, i.e., it can be moved into a position opposite to the other four digits. Opposable thumbs make possible precise movements such as grasping small objects. In vertebrates other than humans, the primary function of the hand is locomotion; the human hand, due to the evolutionary development of bipedalism, is freed for manipulative tasks. There are 27 bones in the human hand. The wrist, which joins the hand to the forearm, contains eight cubelike bones arranged in two rows of four bones each. The metacarpus, or palm, is composed of five long metacarpal bones. Fourteen phalangeal bones constitute the four fingers and thumb (three in each finger, two in the thumb). Ligaments interconnect the bones of the hand. The bones of the digits are anchored to muscles in the hand and to muscles in the arms and shoulders, through connections to tendons, permitting a wide range of movements. Among humans, the undersides of the fingers and palms have distinctive ridges, which improve grip and can be used as identification marks.

General information

History

The area’s first inhabitants were Native AmericanShawnees and the Susquehannock.
The earliest settlers of what was to become Bird-in-Hand were Quakers and SwissMennonites. James Smith was the first of the Quakers known to have settled in the area, arriving by the year 1715. William and Dorothy McNabb were pioneer landowners and the owners of the original Bird-in-Hand Hotel. The Quakers built a meetinghouse and two-story academy, which stands today, next to the present day Bird-in-Hand fire company.

The community was founded in 1734. The legend of the naming of Bird-in-Hand concerns the time when the Old Philadelphia Pike was surveyed between Lancaster and Philadelphia. According to legend two road surveyors discussed whether they should stay at their present location or go on to the town of Lancaster. One of them supposedly said, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and so they stayed. By 1734, road surveyors were making McNabb’s hotel their headquarters rather than returning to Lancaster every day. The sign in front of the inn is known to have once "portrayed a man with a bird in his hand and a bush nearby, in which two birds were perched," and was known as the Bird-in-Hand Inn. Variations of this sign appear throughout the town today.

In 1968 the Smucker family opened a small 30-room motel called the Bird-in-Hand Motor Inn, with an adjacent coffee shop, in hopes of capitalizing on the growing tourist trade in the area. The coffee shop was turned into a larger 145 seat restaurant in 1970 and renamed the Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant. A larger, additional building with an indoor swimming pool was built in the early 1980s and the motel changed its name to the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn. In the 1990s a buffet was added to the restaurant. In 2005 the restaurant was expanded further and a larger buffet was added and the name was changed to the Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant and Smorgasbord.

In 1976 the Bird-in-Hand Farmers Market opened adjacent to the Bird-in-Hand Motor Inn.

Economy

Tourism is very important and many businesses cater specifically to tourists. Many of these businesses have an Amish theme, such as horse and buggy rides and crafts.